Who does own repaires?

Im not talking the occasional flat tire thing, but who has the resourses and abillity to do more major stuff like tear into an engine (mower, trucks, power equipment), press bushings and/or bearings, weld, overhaul hydros, troubleshoot, ect.
Everything cant always be under warrenty and shop labor is costly.

I put a engine in my 98 f-150, and do all work on mowers except carburator work. I cant seem to get how carbs work. I am going to order a rebuild kit for one, i figure its only like $15, and if i screw it up ill just throw it out, i have alot laying around. My dad was a mechanic for many years, and seeing some "mechanics" today and what they can diagnose gives me no faith in them. I can buy needed parts cheaper from a couple places, and do the work at night, so for me it makes sence to do it myself. You mention welding, i am a very good welder at night when i can see what i am doing because everything else is dark. But when its light, i am the most pathetic welder in the world.

I enjoy tinkering, and I would rather do some work myself as opposed to paying someone else (if I have the time)
I have a pretty good assortment of automotive tools, including air tools and some specialty tools.
Add to that the fact that I have a friend who owns a body shop and allows me to use space/tools whenever I need, and another friend whos a service mgr for a dealership. I prety much have the resources to do alot of service / repair when I so desire.......

I do all the repairs that I'm capable of doing. Last year I bought welder, because I couldn't find anyone to make welding repairs in a timely manner. The only time a machine goes to the dealer is warrenty work, or if I don't know how to make the repair.

One reason I posted this was because this lco I see often who doest know how to fix anything and is always running by the skin of his teeth. One day I see him pulling this tiny trailer that looks like he pulled it from someones trash. It didnt have a light on it and wheels so small it didnt look hiway usable. He finnaly got a ticket and couldnt use it anymore. Next time I saw him he had much better twin axel trailor but it had fat short tires. Then next time he had two tires off this trailer (front rt and rear lf) and driving it that way. He tells me tires kept rubbing inside fenderwells and causing them to blow. From behind it the axels looked like an X . He now has two old 36" mowers and one or both are always down. The last time I saw him the rope to one of his pull starters was all pulled out and he said its been like that two weeks because he doesnt have time to run it to the local shop to have them fix it. He also told me that he only sharpens blades a couple times all season. Im willing to bet all his other maintenance is very lax as well.

I usually do my own repairs. The mower shops are so slow to fix anything that I just get too impatient waiting. By the time they even get to my mower I could have usually had the mower fixed and running again. The same with the truck, unless it's something like the tranny. Lawnman_Scott, be careful messing with carberators. My first bad experience adjusting a carberator cost me the piston on a Yamaha 125 induro. The mix was off causing the extra heat to melt a hole through the top of the piston. I considered myself pretty fortunate to only have to replace the piston considering I could have fried the entire motor.

I fix everything myself, or with a helping hand. I have no faith in any mechanics around me. I have had my precious turbo cars who I took to a shop specialized and builds some of the fastest eclipse and toyota celica turbos in the country screw up putting in a clutch and leaving the trans with a 1/4" gap between the engine. It was not the owner but an employee. I fix everything and anything that needs a fix except under warranty.

I also had a freind who bought a truck from an uncle who was a auto repair shop forman and 2 months later the engine blew up. He charged him about $1400 to rebuild the engine and 2 months later it seized up and he put it in its final resting place.